Ju Li rented a small apartment in an old residential area near Longyang Road in Pudong.
When she closed the door after returning home, she suddenly noticed someone lying on the sofa in the living room to her left—
A pair of long legs curled up, barely fitting on the sofa. The person was resting on a cushion, sleeping soundly.
Although his youthful face was tanned to a light brown, it couldn’t conceal his striking features.
Probably hearing her opening the door, the door on the right side opened, and her neighbouring jiejie1 winked at her. “Your little brother—I let him sit here for a while. Oh, he fell asleep.”
As she spoke, the neighbour realised that Ju Jing had dozed off on the sofa. She instinctively covered her mouth and lowered her voice.
Ju Li quickly whispered a thank you.
The neighbour’s gaze lingered on Ju Jing’s tall, well-proportioned figure before she reluctantly closed her door.
Ju Li entered her bedroom, tossed her bag onto the bed, and then turned to wake her brother, who was clearly not sleeping comfortably on the sofa—
The young man was only 22 years old but didn’t have the usual thin, naïve look of boys his age. His short buzz cut was neat, his features sharp, and his body well-built with firm muscles.
Though there was a resemblance to her own delicate face, he was undeniably more attractive.
Lately, she had been busy with her internship, graduation procedures, and job hunting.
Her brother had been occupied with work as well. They hadn’t seen each other for almost a month.
It was rare for him to have time today.
Just as she was about to shake him awake, the supposedly fast-asleep young man suddenly stretched out his arm, grabbed onto her pants leg, and rubbed his face against her jeans. With a husky voice from just waking up, he said, “Ju Li, why did you come home so late?”
Ju Li, who had been exhausted and troubled after work, suddenly broke into a bright smile.
Her already delicate features became even more radiant with that smile.
She smacked her brother’s shoulder firmly and ordered,
“Get up and go sleep in my room. Take the floor mattress from the cabinet and set it up yourself. Don’t curl up here like a homeless kid.”
Ju Jing’s eyebrow twitched slightly at her smack.
Taking a deep breath, he finally opened his eyes.
His gaze was exceptionally clear and bright, a shade of light amber that gave him a lazy, seductive look whenever he stared at someone.
His long, thick eyelashes fluttered as he blinked, making his gaze even more captivating.
With such striking features, his eyes elevated his appearance to another level.
Ju Li often felt a sense of pride over how handsome her little brother was. She ruffled his short, spiky hair and chuckled,
“Alright, stop being so clingy.”
Ju Jing, still curled up on the sofa, stretched his long limbs lazily. Seeing him like that, Ju Li couldn’t help but laugh.
Humming “I Smile Whenever I See You,”2 she pulled her pants leg from his grasp and walked straight into the kitchen.
As soon as Ju Jing saw his sister disappear from view, his smile faded.
Furrowing his brows, he gritted his teeth and rotated his shoulder, feeling sharp pain as if a knife was twisting inside.
Yesterday, he had strained his shoulder while carrying a customer’s heavy package upstairs. He had taken the day off, finally finding time to visit his sister.
Sitting up, he gazed out of the not-so-clean window.
The setting sun burned like molten gold, dyeing the sky in brilliant reds and oranges.
In the distance, skyscrapers stood in neat rows, bathed in dazzling golden light, a breathtaking scene of urban prosperity.
Late at night. Ju Li only rested her head on the edge of her bed after her brother had fallen asleep on the floor mattress.
Through the faint light coming from outside, she carefully observed him.
When awake, he was mischievous and rebellious, never listening to anyone.
But when asleep, with his slightly open mouth, he looked just like a baby.
She recalled their childhood—back when he couldn’t even speak, he was terrified of flies and would cry every summer. She never liked playing with him, but he always clung to her.
Then, before she realised it, he had grown up—smart and fearless.
Their roles had reversed, and she had started following him on wild adventures.
During summer vacations, they would run around all day, climbing hills to find bird nests or catching grasshoppers in the fields. By the time school reopened, they had always turned into two sunburnt “black potatoes.”
Her beloved younger brother deserved a better life and future.
Ju Li turned over, staring at the ceiling, her eyes flickering with determination.
She needed the highest-paying job she could get. She had to become stronger!
Clenching her fists, she made up her mind.
After a night spent cooking, washing dishes, and catching up with her brother, she finally set her phone alarm before bed.
That was when she remembered the strange incident from earlier on the subway.
At the very end of her app list, she found an inconspicuous white icon.
The icon featured a golden ¥ symbol, with the app name displayed below: [Little Secretary System].
She tapped it open and examined it carefully. The system had only two interactive functions—
- Posting tasks for her to complete.
- A “Lucky Spin” wheel, which she assumed was for prizes—but she had no lottery tickets available, so she couldn’t use it yet.
She also noticed that the rewards seemed to be issued by someone called “The President”—
Was this ‘President’ the only NPC in the system?
Moreover, only two tasks were currently available, while the rest were greyed out and unclickable.
This system was surprisingly simple and easy to navigate—
Or rather, it was ridiculously basic.
Ignoring everything else, she tapped on the first available task: [Newbie Gift Pack].
This task was quite user-friendly—it required no effort, just a simple claim.
However—
[Newbie Gift Pack]
Reward Items: [The President’s Favour] and [A Refreshing Mystery Gift]
To claim this reward, maintain eye contact with the President for five seconds.
…?
Eye contact with the president?
What kind of bizarre claiming method was this?
And who exactly was the president?
Ju Li frowned. This didn’t make any sense.
Was this some kind of secretary-training game?
Closing that screen, she opened the second available task—
[Newbie Task]
Task: Join a top-tier company.
Requirements: The company must be in a municipality, with over 1,000 employees, and offer a base salary of over 6,000 yuan.
Support/Newbie Perk: A Mysterious Resume will be provided.
Reward: One spin on the Lucky Wheel.
Accept Task? Yes / No
“?”
A Company with Over 1,000 Employees?
Large film companies in first-tier cities usually only have a few dozen employees. Many financial firms and law offices in the city centre have even fewer.
To qualify for the task, the company must have over 1,000 employees, offer a starting salary above 6,000 yuan, and it couldn’t be something like Foxconn…
That was quite a challenge.
The highest salary offer she’d received recently was 5,200 yuan per month.
The companies she’d worked with as a student weren’t places with long-term growth or promising futures.
If she wanted to meet the task’s criteria, she’d have to find a better job with higher pay.
Who wouldn’t want to get into a big company?
But was it really that easy?
After playing around with the app for a bit, she lost interest.
She tried to drag the software to delete it, but strangely, it seemed to affect her emotions.
Every time she attempted to remove it, an overwhelming sense of sorrow and pain would well up from within—like someone was drilling into her heart, like being abandoned by a loved one, like losing 10,000 yuan…
That kind of sadness.
Too exhausted to dwell on it, she stared at the app icon—at that golden ¥ for a moment before drifting into a deep sleep.
The next day, after finishing her tasks at her internship, Ju Li remembered the [Little Secretary System] again.
She searched for it on Baidu and Zhihu3, but there was no trace of the software.
It didn’t even exist in the app store where she had supposedly downloaded it.
It was as if the system simply didn’t exist in this world.
Thinking about the system’s beginner mission, she decided to search for Zhanyun Media—her dream company.
She dreamed of working there.
After checking its recruitment information and company introduction, Ju Li realised that the only position she might qualify for was administration.
It was frustrating, but the [Little Secretary System] had given her new ideas and motivation.
She decisively looked up the executive team of Zhanyun Media’s Jianghai branch – the Administration Department.
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll never lose a battle.
She needed to do her research and find an opportunity.
Soon, she found the highest-ranking administrative leader—Administrative Director Zhu Jingyi.
There was barely any information about him on Baidu.
After rereading what little she could find, she opened the [Little Secretary System] again.
She noticed that after accepting the [Novice Mission], she had received a bonus item: Mysterious Resume.
A single line of text explained how to use it: “Enter the name of the person you want to learn about in the name field.”
What if…
A wild idea popped into her head. What if this system really was connected to reality?
Would the Mysterious Resume actually work?
If she pressed [Print], would the resume physically appear in front of her?
Ju Li wasn’t someone who overthought things. Without hesitation, she tapped [Print].
Nothing appeared in her hand. She frowned, a little disappointed.
As expected, was her brain muddled because of poverty? She was actually hoping for such a mysterious thing to happen.
She sighed, feeling an inexplicable sense of gloom.
Just then, her fellow intern Sun Hong approached her.
Sun Hong placed a sheet of paper on her desk and leaned in close to whisper:
“You should be more discreet when printing resumes at work. Why’d you leave it at the printer? I checked the print logs and saw it was yours. If a manager had found it, you could’ve been fired! Until you land a full-time job, this internship is still valuable!”
Ju Li completely tuned her out.
She stared blankly at the paper on her desk, stunned.
She hadn’t printed anything.
She had only—
She took a deep breath and carefully examined the paper.
At the top, it read:
Mysterious Resume
Below, it was filled with countless information fields:
Name, Gender, Age, Birthdate, Phone Number, ID Number, Address, Habits, Hobbies…
Ten minutes later, she glanced at her computer screen, still displaying the search results:
Zhanyun Media – Administrative Director: Zhu Jingyi.
Her eyes sharpened.
She picked up a pen and, without hesitation, wrote a name in the resume’s ‘Name’ field—Zhu Jingyi.
As soon as she finished the last stroke, like magic, the previously blank information fields began to fill in automatically—
Every single detail about Zhu Jingyi.
From winning a kindergarten excellence award at age 3, to his favourite book…
Ju Li, shocked, examined the details carefully.
Finally, she highlighted several key pieces of useful information:
- Zhu Jingyi, Male
- Weekday Routine: 7:30 AM at Hong Kong Plaza Gym
- Currently reading Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express at Yan Ji You Bookstore…
A plan formed in her mind.
She bit her lip.
“If I want to get into Zhanyun Media and achieve my dream of being a corporate slave for a capitalist boss… it all depends on you—”
Mysterious Resume!
Meanwhile, dozens of kilometres away, in downtown Jianghai, Zhu Jingyi sat in his office.
Suddenly, a shiver ran down his spine.
He looked up, alarmed, as a strange sense of unease washed over him. He forced himself to focus on work again, but just minutes later—his right eyelid started twitching uncontrollably.
What was going on?
Why did he feel like… someone was watching him?
Like he had been completely seen through…?
- Elder sister. Not necessarily used in the biological sense. ↩︎
- “I Smile Whenever I See You” – Likely referring to a song by Lily Chao (趙露), a Taiwanese singer popular in the 1960s. Known for her unique blend of Mandarin pop and Western musical influences, Lily Chao’s works captured the charm of mid-20th-century Chinese popular music. ↩︎
- Baidu (百度) is China’s leading search engine, similar to Google, offering a range of internet services including an encyclopedia (Baidu Baike) and forums (Baidu Tieba). Zhihu (知乎) is a Chinese Q&A platform like Quora, where users discuss various topics, share knowledge and engage in in-depth discussions. ↩︎
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